“It’s not completely uncontroversial to say that referral traffic will decline more [as a result of Google AI overviews and AI engines], it’s a question of how much,” said Douglas McCabe, CEO of media analysis firm Enders Analysis.
McCabe believes publishers are slowly and reluctantly accepting that the incentives of the tech platforms — building people’s habitual use of answer engines, and providing the kind of utility that keeps them within the engines as long as possible — do not align with ensuring publishers get referral traffic. Website monetization itself, he believes, is under threat.